Dobby for looms



Sept. 3, 1929. N. E. HAM ET AL DOBBY FOR LOOMS Filed May 9 [71 8/710/ [Van ME [55/72. M77. 17 Med/5am 4 Patented Sept. 3, 19259.

UNl'lED STATES PATENT QFFlCE.

NEJVELL E. HALE AND WILLIAM H. NEEDHAM, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNGRS TO CROMPTON & KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHU I SETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

BOBBY FOR LOOMS.

Application filed May 9, 1927.

This invention relatesto improvements in loom dobbies and it is the principal object of the invention to provide an improved rack for guiding the hooks of dobbies.

5 Loom dobbies as ordinarily constructed comprise two sets of hooks which are located in two horizontal planes and combs are provided to separate the hooks so that each hook may be free to move under the influence of the dobby knife without interference by neighboring hooks. The upper set of hooks are ordinarily guided by a so-called top rack which is made in two parts, the upper of which has the teeth of the comb formed integrally therewith. It has been found that top racks are subject to breakage and that they have considerable weight compared with the work which they do in the dobby and it is an important object of our present invention to provide a light non-breakable spacing device for dobby hooks such as canbe readily applied to looms already constructed.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a two part rack where the parts have inter-engaging portions which serve to space the dents or fingers of the comb properly with respect to the upright hook-lifting wires which are guided by the lower partof the rack.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dobby rack of material which is inherently resilient to the end that any sudden strains to which the device may be subjected will not break the component parts of the rack but will merely deform the same so thatafter straightening the rack may be used.

Heretofore these rods have been received by pockets cast in the lower member of the rack and a Wire has been passed along the open ends of the pockets to prevent the rods from falling out of position. It is an important object of our invention to eliminate the aforesaid wire but retain its function by punching holes for the rods in the lower rack member.

It is a still further object of'our invention to form the rack so that a single securing means for each end thereof will sufiice to hold both rack members in position on the dobby.

WVith these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds our invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter rlsseribed and teeth in the claims.

Serial No. 189.791.

In the accompanying drawings wherein we have illustrated a convenient form of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a portion of a dobby having our invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1. on an enlarged scale showing our improved rack, certain parts being shown in section and the manner of supporting the rack being indicated,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view taken in the direction of arrow 3 of Fig. 2, certain parts being broken away for the sake of clearness and the hook lifting rods being indicated, and,

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4c4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings the dobby frame lOsupports a pair of oppositely reciprocating dobby knives 11 and 12, respectively, which cooperate with upper and lower hooks 13 and 14-, respectively. Said hooks at their inner ends are pivoted in pairs to dobby back levers 15 and each lever is connected to a harness lifting ack 16 pivoted tothe dobby frame at 17. Pattern mechanism not shown controls the vertical position of the hooks 13 and 14 so that certain of said hooks will be down to be engaged and to be moved outwardly by their corresponding kniveswhile other hooks will be raised and therefore at rest. In this way the harness frames are raised or left down, as the case may be. to form the sheds. The hook controlling mechanism includes socalled dobby fingers, one set of which has direct contact with the lower hooks while the other set controls vertical lifting rods 18. The matter thus far described is of common construction and is thought to be sufficiently understood not to require further description of either the structure or operation thereof.

It is necessary to provide some means for separating the hooks so that each may have its proper space in which to move without interference with neighboring hooks and it is to this part of the dobby that our invention more particularly relates. In carrying our invenprovided with bolt-receiving openings at. Said lower member is provided with a pair of vertical arms which extend downwardly from the cars 33 a suitable distance and are connected by lower hook-supporting portions 36. Said portion 36 is provided with a plurality of closed slots 37 shown more particularly in Fig. 3 and said slots are adapted to receive the upper ends of rods 18. As shown in Fig. 1 the upper ends of said rods are bent back on themselves as at 20 to form a hooklifting bend 21. The holes 37 are of suliicient length to receive parts of two rods 18 and the bends 21 are staggered asindicated in Fig. 3.

The upper member 31 of said rack is formed of a comparatively thin sheet of metal the form of which is indicated more particularly in Figs. 2 3 and 4. Said top member is provided with two parallel rib members and 11 which lie closely together and if desired may be welded to each other. Said ribs lie in horizontal. planes and are provided at each end thereof with an open slot 12 which registers with the holes 34: of the lower member 30. The intermediate portion of the upper member is provided with a plurality of depending teeth 13 each of which as indicated in Fig. 4 is U-sha'ped in cross section, the opposite portions thereof being spaced so as to give efiective' width to the fingers. As shown in Fig; 2 the fingers 13 and the hook receiving spaces 44; therebetween are so related with respect to. the slots 37 that said fingers register with the slots so that spaces 44: will lie opposite the bends of lifting rods 18. The fingers are out of vertical alignment with rods 18 so as not to interfere with the latter.

In order to. preserve this alignment we punch a slot in the right end of lower member 32 as shown in Fig. and extend a portion of the upper member downwardly as at 51 through said slot. rrdjacent said slot 50 as shown more clearly in Fig. 3 is a hole 52 for one of the end lifting rods 18. The left end of the rack is-provided with a similar construction, having an arm 53 extending downwardly into a slot 54: located in lower member In this latter instance the slot 5% is provided with a notch 55 which receives the left portion of the rod 18 located near the left end of the rack. By means of these tongues 51 and 53' and their corresponding openings in the lower member proper alignment is maintained.

In order that the rack may be secured to the dobby we may provide one bolt for each end of the rack, each bolt being secured to the dobby frame and each bolt passing through one of the holes 34 and the slot 42 aligning therewith. Said holes and slots are somewhat larger than the bolt so as to permit the tongues 51 and 53 to be moved laterally a slight amount to bring about proper align ment of the fingers 4-3 with the slots 3?.

In the operation of the dobby several conditions may arise under any of which it is desirable to prevent one of the upper hooks from falling to a position where it could interfere with adjacent rods 18. If the dohbv be improperly set. for instance, and the hook rubs over the top of the wires at the hook lifting bends 20 thereof. \vQfll'lllQ will result and in time the bend 20 will break. Under these conditions the hook is unsupported by the wires and would fall to a position where it could damage the other wires 18 unless the bottom member 36 engaged said hook to hold the latter raised. Also. due to wearing. the bottom of a wire 18 may become disengaged from its finger (not shown), but the member 36 will in this instance support the hook.

lVhile it is true that the hooks 13 will ordinarily be held in proper position by the wires 18, yet the latter are in turn positioned by the member 36 and the latter acts indirectly to keep the hooks 13 raised when the top section 31 is removed.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we have provided a very simple dobby rack made of two parts of material which is resilient so as to avoid breakage when subjected to temporary undue strains. It will further be seen that by forming the top member as set forth herein we provide a rack the fingers of which have a width considerably in excess of the thickness of the stock of wnich the said fingers are formed. Furthermore the provision of the tongues 51 and 53 and their corresprmding slots into the lower rack l'llGIl'llJQl make is possible to align the rack fingers with the slots 3? so that the rods 18 will always be held in proper position with respect to their corresponding hooks. It will. also he noted that by the construction set forth herein a single screw or bolt or other securing means will suliicc to hold each end of the rack in proper position with respect to the dobby frame. Also, the closed slots 37 hold the lifting rods 18 in proper position without the use of the wire ordinarily used for this purpose. Furthermore, the upper rack member may be removed and the lower member will support the hooks.

Having thus described our iiivcntion it will be apparent that changes and mmlilications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed. but what we claim is: 1

1. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks, a rack to separate and hold said hooks in spaced relation, said rack including a pa'" of hook engaging members each having attaching means at each end thereof. and single securing means for each end of the rack passing through both members and ccmn'inc: the same to the dobby.

2. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks, a separating rack to hold said hooks in spaced relation, said rack including an upper member provided with depending fingers and having also an extension on each end there of, said rack including also a lower member extending below the fingers of the first named member, said lower member having extensions on each end thereof adjacent the extensionsof the first named member, and a single securing means for each end of the rack extending through adjacent extensions of the upper and lower members and securing the same to the dobby.

3. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks and lifting rods therefor, a separating rack to hold said hooks in spaced relation and to guide said rods, said rack including an upper member formed of a plurality of depend ing fingers defining spaces for the hooks, said rack also including a lower member having a portion extending below the fingers, said lower portion being provided with closed slots which register with the fingers, parts of two lifting wires being located in all of the slots except those at the ends of the rack, said slots guiding the rods to prevent displacement thereof.

4. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks and lifter rods therefor, a separating rack to space the hooks and guide the rods, said rack being formed of upper and lower members, the upper member having depending fingers defining spaces for the hooks and said lower member being formed of a bent piece of sheet metal having punched closed slots therein which register with the fingers of the upper member, said slots receiving the rods to guide the same and prevent accidental displacement of the same out of registry with the hooks.

5. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks, a separating rack for the hooks to hold the latter in spaced relation, said rack being formed of two parts, the upper part being formed of a piece of sheet metal bent back on itself to define closely adjacent ribs from which project fingers formed integral with the ribs, the portions of the fingers being spaced to give an effective width to said fingel-s considerably in excess of the thickness of the metal of which they are formed, and the lower part of said rack comprising a portion extending under the fingers to support the hooks when the top part is removed.

(5. A hook separating rack for a loom dobby having a plurality of hooks, said rack comprising two members one of which is formed of a piece of sheet metal bent back on itself along a line of fold extending in the direction of the length of said rack and having a pair of ribs from which project hook spacing fingers, said fingers being formed by portions of the said first named member being bent on themselves and the opposite sides of said fingers being spaced a distance in excess of the thickness of the material of which they are formed of a piece of sheet metal bent to have portions thereof extend along the ribs and to have other portions to extend under the fingers.

7. A loom dobby rack forming element for a dobby having a plurality of hooks, said element comprising a single piece of sheet metal bent back on itself along a line extending in the direction of the length of said element and having closely adjacent ribs from which fingers project, opposite sides of the fingers being spaced a distance considerably in excessof the thickness of the metal of which they are formed to provide an effective width for said fingers.

8. A loom dobby rack forming element to separate dobby hooks, said element being formed of a single piece of sheet metal folded so that certain edges thereof lie close together to form ribs by means of which said element may be held in position, and said element having a plurality of spaced fingers extending from the ribs, each finger being formed by having a portion of the member bent back on itself.

9. A hook spacing element for a loom dobby rack, said element being formed of a single piece of pressed metal folded back on itself along the longitudinal axis thereof, certain edge portions of the element lying close together and forming ribs, that portion of the element extending from the ribs being formed of a plurality of spaced U-shaped fingers, the ends of the ribs being formed to receive an attaching means.

10. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks,

a separating rack to hold said hooks in spaced relation, said rack being formed of a pair of hook engaging members, the upper member having fingers to space the hooks, and a tongue projecting from and rigid with one of said members and extending into a corresponding opening formed in the other member to cause proper registry of said members.

11. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks, a separating rack to hold said hooks in spaced relation, said rack being formed of a pair of hook engaging members, the upper member having fingers to space the hooks, a tongue projecting from one of said members into a corresponding opening formed in the other member to cause proper registry of said members, and s curing means to hold said rack to the dobby, said securing means passing through openings in the member which are somewhat larger than said means.

12. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks and lifting rods therefor, a rack to separate said hooks, said rack comprising two hook engaging members the upper of which is formed of pressed metal and having a plurality 0t depending fingers to space the hooks, the lower member having a plurality of rod receiving openings which register with the fingers of the upper member, and a tongue rigid with and extending from the upper member into an opening formed in the lower member to position said members so as to cause proper registry of the fingers of the upper member with the openings in the lower member.

13. In a loom dobby having a set of hooks and lifting rods therefor, a rack to separate said hooks, said rack comprising two hook engaging members the upper of which is formed of pressed metal and having a plurality of depending fingers to space the hooks, the lower member having a plurality of rod receiving openings which register with the fingers of the upper member, a tongue rigid with and extending from the upper member into an opening formed in the lower member to position said members so as to cause proper registry of the fingers of the upper member with the openings in the lower memher, and securing means passing through said members to hold the same to the (lobby, said securing means passing through openings in the members which are larger than the secuu ing means.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto affixed our signatures.

NEWELL E. HAM. \VILLIAM H. NEEDHAM. 

